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That night, after a press conference more exhausting than fighting monsters.
Having discarded her black suit, Yuanna collapsed limply onto the sofa.
In Yuanna’s hand was a memento she had briefly shown her face at Lee Han-young’s funeral but had been unable to return to the family.
A button that had popped off like a coin and a camcorder issued to all heroes for recording on-site.
Official Code: Black Cat; Unofficial: Despair-Class Monster.
The name was derived from testimonies indicating that most observed transformations had some traits of tigers, cats, and other animals.
Equipment for recording information about the monster.
That day, Yuanna had warned everyone at the press conference about the dangers of Black Cat.
An unpredictable abnormal entity. Its form being indefinite, combat tactics had to constantly change, making it impossible to rely on the elemental compatibility of heroes’ powers.
Only a purely powerful superhuman ability could handle Black Cat… In W City, Yuanna was the only suitable card.
But how much could the citizens, who were unaware of these facts, understand from this press conference? Yuanna felt incredibly suffocated.
But the reason for her suffocation was not just that.
The recorded file inside the cam, Han-young’s final moments.
Chased by three giant wolves and three Despair-Class Monsters, Han-young screamed as she was lifted after being bitten.
At this moment, the camera lens had already shattered, leaving no clear visuals.
What remained was the sound, though it was noisy, as if filled with dust from the ground while her powers had been collapsing.
Han-young’s scream as her lower body was chewed on, the sound of bones breaking, her screams, the weak breathing after giving up.
And then, silence.
An odd ringing sound began, followed by Han-young’s murmuring.
Most of the sounds were muffled, as if her hands tightly covered her voice.
But one clear sentence could be heard.
“Please eat me and win…”
Han-young had begged the monster to consume her so that it would grow strong enough to fight other Despair-Class Monsters.
Immediately after, the sound of a monster biting into a human skull that Yuanna wished not to remember yet did.
A powerful roar shattered the struggling machinery.
The monster, Black Cat, had consumed Han-young.
Perhaps this had initiated a monster’s unique evolution of existence.
The fiery Black Cat was definitely… stronger than the one in Yuanna’s memory.
Black Cat, a Despair-Class monster without a code, returned after consuming the core of an unnamed Wolf Monster and approached Han-young again.
As if fulfilling a promise, it attempted to finish eating her.
It then appeared to abandon the effort, discarding the corpse and fleeing.
Hero casualties: 1; civilian casualties: 0.
It was a miracle too hard to believe as a result of a Despair-Class Monster’s rampage.
She had tried to explain today to the citizens that Black Cat was not some absurd, human-protecting monster.
However, Han-young’s final words confused her.
Could there be such a thing as monsters that protect humans?
She wished the monster had just attacked sooner.
Thinking such thoughts, inappropriate for a hero, Yuanna succumbed to fatigue-induced sleep.
“Exactly… what are you…?”
#
“Hey! Gobs! It’s time to stop and head back up!”
Shaking the powerful drill, I stopped the machine upon hearing the boss’s voice.
We were in W City’s underground, a district that had been reduced to ruins by a Despair-Class Monster’s rampage recently.
My task now was to slowly break down the walls that had melted and solidified like glass.
Leaving the drill aside, after boarding the temporary elevator with Boss and returning to the surface, I sat on a nearby pile of rubble waiting for food.
Soon, a drone dropped down a parachute from a high altitude.
Lunch delivery.
“Gobs! Man, you’re like a bottomless pit, aren’t you? Asking for extra food with that name, Gobs! Never seen someone hint so clearly.”
“Hm.”
Currently, my name is Gobs, a wonderful and beautiful name.
A single bowl simply doesn’t give the feeling of satisfaction in my stomach, but free meals are treasures in themselves.
Like others taking a coffee break while working, I almost drank the delivered food but quickly stood up again and returned underground.
“Gobs! Take it easy!”
“I’m not tired yet.”
“Ugh… that guy is unbelievable…”
“He’s a real monster, a monster… how does he hold the rock drill for so long? It’s good for me when the projects progress well because I carry equipment underground.”
Holding the drill again, I walked through the narrow tunnel created underground as walls were broken.
A tunnel where I could stretch my two hands and two legs and just barely fit. By normal human standards, it wasn’t a large size.
This tunnel, stretching endlessly to the distant horizon, was left behind by Yuanna chasing me.
From time to time, columns made of a special metal appeared inside the tunnel.
Yuanna’s superpower hadn’t been able to melt these powerful alloy columns completely. They felt pretty tough even to me.
It seemed that even a Catastrophe-Class monster would struggle to leave any mark on these columns, which were a necessity for city construction in the Monster Era.
After monsters emerged in the world, humans slowly adapted, replacing all construction with assembly-style structures to enable quick replacement if any part was destroyed.
Additionally, in order to minimize damage caused by monsters emerging from underground, large columns were driven into the foundations.
A kind of anti-seismic device, designed so that even if something collapses or rises beside it, the column would hold the axis and reduce harm on the surface.
For the city to be reassembled, these columns had to remain intact.
I dropped the sensor I had been assigned under a damaged column.
A special sensor that would react when scanned from above by a detector.
Through this, broken columns could be identified from the surface, then pulverized debris from collapsed buildings could fill the holes before driving new columns into place, restoring the foundation.
This operation was fairly dangerous.
The tunnels were just traces of superpowers, not properly constructed ones, so they could collapse at any time. Moreover, one never knew from where underground monsters might emerge.
Therefore, the compensation was very, very, very good.
With high-risk allowances, government funding, and the boss promising triple the regular pay, I worked hard in anticipation of eating top-grade beef to my heart’s content.
“Hm?”
At that moment, I sensed the presence of a monster.
My heightened senses detected the shape and core size of the monster.
The vibrations of the drill seem to attract the creatures rising from the ground—armored mole-like creatures. Even far away, a newly formed passage crawled with a giant scorpion monster.
Numerous underground monsters; this was why the pay for this job was so high.
This area’s monster alarms were all broken now.
Instead, a temporary alarm installed below the temporary elevator was in operation.
If it sounds, work for the day stops, and all workers must urgently return to the surface to evacuate.
Once evacuated, work for the day ends, and nothing can be done until heroes clean out the underground monsters the next day.
Salary for the day is only paid based on hours worked.
“Nope, it’s not stopping.”
Heading straight to the elevator, I turned off the temporary alarm with countless stickers warning not to do so.
Since it’s lunchtime, everyone would probably take a short break before returning.
Before others came down, I would deal with monster cleanup myself.
A monster specialized for hunting smaller monsters here in such conditions.
The human silhouette instantly shrinks like a child.
A form cloaked in darkness, the tail part of that winged black leopard—this creature that dominates the shadows of the night.
In a tunnel enveloped only by darkness, its extended form spreads across every connected space, rooting into the ground and piercing through the bodies of the monsters.
“Shurrrrrr…”
I expanded my shadows by carefully and carefully implanting thin threads into each monster’s body like sharp needles.
Then I devoured the corpses one by one.
Monsters at the level of Murder-Class and Fragment-Class created a sense of fullness greater than the lunch I had eaten moments ago.
Hmm… not a bad taste after all.
While savoring the…? Or rather, taste of the shadows, I gathered my endlessly stretched limbs and returned to human form.
Soon afterward, I restarted the alarm before continuing the work while Boss and the other workers descended in the elevator.
“Wow… it’s like you’ve installed a small piece of heavy machinery.”
“Our team is seven times faster than others?”
“Man, Gobs really works hard.”
The workers gazed around at the significantly advanced tunnel interior before picking up their tools and spreading out.
“Gobs! Take a break and drink some water!”
After receiving the 1.5L bottle and gulping down water, I glanced at the workers.
Since the pay depended on the team’s output, the workers’ gazes toward me were warm.
“Why no monsters are coming, weird…?”
“Before Gobs came, it wasn’t like this. Maybe because his size is too big, the monsters don’t recognize him as human and avoid coming?”
“Anyway, Gobs is a real blessing.”
#
“Really the end today?”
“Sufficient work has been done.”
I said my final goodbyes to Boss after a while of foundation restoration work.
Boss looked slightly disappointed that I wouldn’t be working here anymore.
But, I had to leave soon.
Due to my inability to completely control my monster aura, the number of high-rank murder-class monsters gathering underground was increasing.
Monsters mistaking me for a weak, underground-dwelling creature kept coming.
Until now, I’ve handled them all by myself, but if I stay, monsters higher than them might be attracted by the group of murder-class monsters.
The areas where new columns have been installed already see rapid assembly of roads and buildings. It’s a waste to disrupt them after putting in so much effort for restoration.
I couldn’t stay long in one sector until I can completely hide my aura.
“Ah… the Gobs’ performance bonus ends? Alright, take care elsewhere.”
Boss handed over the final pay envelope and extended a light farewell.
Though aware that I attract small monsters, he still allowed me to work due to the hefty cash envelope.
I opened it slightly and felt reassured—I had accomplished my goal.
With this, I could eat top-grade beef to my heart’s content.
“Ho ho ho…”
Laughing aloud, I quickly retrieved my clothes and jumped onto the roof of the restored building where no one was around.
Though the wind noisily fluttered my shirt tailored to my body earned from working for money, I had to move fast now.
The neighboring district’s mart would close soon.
#
